A Physician in South Texas on an Unnerving Encounter with an Eight-Year-Old Boy in Immigration Detention

A Physician in South Texas on an Unnerving Encounter with an Eight-Year-Old Boy in Immigration Detention

The lack of empathy is astounding. They don’t see these kids as people. “He barely spoke. I asked if he needed a hug. I kneeled down in front of the recliner, and this kid just threw himself into my arms and didn’t let go. He cried and I cried. And to think he’s been in a facility for a month without a hug, away from his parents, and scared, and not knowing when he’ll see them again or if he’ll see them again. While I held him, I heard the men standing behind me muttering that I was ‘rewarding his bad behavior.’ Thankfully, it was in English, so I don’t think the boy understood what they were saying, but it just revealed their attitudes toward these kids.”